Silvio Berlusconi: Pato promised me he will return to Milan

AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi has revealed that Alexandre Pato, who signed for Corinthians last week, has promised him that he will return to the San Siro one day.

Pato, 23, completed his move back to Brazil with the Fifa Club World Cup winners last week, signing a four year contract, but the former Italian Prime Minister believes the striker will return to Milan in the future.

“Pato promised me that he will return to Milan, fully recovered within a year and a half,” Globo Esporte quote Berlusconi as saying.

“A series of incidents have created some distance between him and Milanello. The agreement is to go there (Corinthians), stay for a year, year and a half and then return to Milan. That's what he told me when hugging me last time we met.”

The former Internacional striker, who has suffered a number of muscle injuries in the past year, is believed to have grown frustrated with the medical care on offer at Milanello and hopes that the facilities in Brazil will help him recover and fulfil his undoubted potential.